Friday, February 15, 2013

Dida's Gota Sheddho -- traditions reborn

Before I go into the recipe of Gota Sheddho let me be honest and tell you that this is the first time I made it.

I had never made Gota Sheddho before. Neither has my Mother. It is my Dida, my Ma's mother, whose Gota Sheddho is what I remember today. Her Gota Sheddho was much in demand in the North Kolkata neighborhood she lived. Younger women who had turned new mothers would send out a request to her before Saraswati Pujo. "Mashima, amar jonyo ektu gota deben", they would say. In the years that we lived in Kolkata, she would send it for my Mother too, in steel tiffin carrier boxes, the day after Saraswati Pujo.

The dish did not look appetizing with its dull brown black color and I never really wanted to taste it. It was supposed to be had cold and my Ma would implore me to have at least a serving of what Dida has sent.. "It is good for you", she would say. I would swallow it like I would a lot of other veggies at that age. Fast. Pushing the morsels at the back of my throat. Refusing to taste it with my tongues or senses. I wish I had better adjectives to describe that dish my Dida cooked with love for the wellbeing of her children and then theirs. But I hardly tasted the dish and every year I wondered if the young women in my Dida's neighborhood had gone bonkers to send request for "Gota Sheddho".

Yesterday on my FB page, a reader asked if I had a recipe for Gota Sheddho."Nope", I told her. And there the matter rested. Until another reader came by and shared a recipe of her Mother's Gota Sheddho. Anuradha's Mom's recipe was simple like it should be and it instantly reminded me of my Dida's Gota Sheddho. I had a hunch that this was how Dida made it. Strangely, at that point, I did not remember it as the dull black unappetizing dish instead I remembered it as something my Dida cooked. It must have been good, I told myself, she was a fantastic cook after all.

So I called my Mother. I wanted to know the story behind the dish. Why was it had cold ? Why was it cooked at all on Saraswati Pujo ? Information trickled down and a tradition shaped up.

I did not have Masshkolai so I used Green Moong

Ma said, "The day after Saraswati Pujo is Sheetol Shoshti. Shoshthi is the goddess of fertility and worshiped by Mothers as a guardian angel of their offspring. Sheetol==Cool. And on the day of sheetol shoshthi, cold gota sheddho that had been cooked the previous day, is to be had by Mothers worshipping Ma Shoshthi.

The way your Dida made Gota Sheddho was by boiling kali urad(the urad dal with skin) known as maashkolai in Bengali with five different vegetables in season which were to be added whole, little salt, sugar to taste, some pieces of ginger and drizzle of raw mustard oil to finish off. The vegetables most commonly used were small red potatoes, small eggplant, sheem, whole green peas in their pod and baby spinach."

Okay, so the Gota Sheddho was cooked on Saraswati Pujo but had cold only the next day and it was done apparently for the long life of one's children.

My Mother also said that on the day of Sheetol Shoshthi, Dida wrapped the sheel-nora in a fresh new cotton cloth and worshiped it. It was the sheel-nora's day off and no masala(spices) were to be ground or made into a paste. Amazingly, the gota sheddho is cooked sans any spices also. Not even a speck of turmeric is added to it. I am not sure if this was as a respect for the sheel-nora but that is how the story goes.

Now that I think of it, there seems to be a deeper meaning to the whole thing. Saraswati Pujo heralds the advent of Spring and with Spring came many diseases in those days. So along with the prayers for well being of the children, the food cooked was something healthy and brimming with nutrients from the steamed fresh new vegetables and dals. A diet like that would keep any disease at bay, given that you had it every day.

Now, there are many different versions of this dish. Each home in Bengal has their own little touch to Gota Sheddho. I closely followed my Dida's recipe, as narrated by my Ma. But I had to adapt and make some changes. I did not have the black urad dal and so I used green moong. I used five vegetables but did not follow the rule of six parts or numbers of each. Also instead of the raw mustard oil I heated up mustard oil, tempered it with few dry red chillies and added that oil to finished dal.

I am not a ritualistic person and I did not do this with the religious goal in mind. Everyday I pray for my children's well being and I do not believe that having a cold dal on a certain Spring day would do any extra good. But I am sure my Dida and the women of their generations had their own reasons and nothing beats the fact that this is a dish brimming with nutrition. I liked it hot though. And a squeeze of lime made it better.

Dida's Gota Sheddho -- my version

The day before cooking, soak 1/2 cup of Green Moong in water. Actual recipes asks for Black urad.

The next day, in a big pot, add the soaked dal. In my case this was the pressure cooker.

Along with the dal add the following veggies whole. No chopping or cutting. Makes life easy.Small Red PotatoesSmall Round eggplantWhole peas in their podsSheemBaby Spinach with stemsIdeally each vegetable should be added in six-es. But I did not follow this rule

Add enough water to the pot to cover the veggies and dal.
Add salt to taste.
Add 5-6 whole green chillies
Add a tbsp of grated or minced ginger

Cook till dal and veggies are done. Since I did it in a whistling pressure cooker, I did it for about 5 whistles at low medium heat.

When done, dry off excess water if you wish. Add sugar to taste. Drizzle enough mustard oil. Serve hot or cold.
Instead of raw oil, I heated a tbsp of Mustard Oil in a separate kadhai. Tempered the hot oil with 4 Dry Red Chillies. Added the Oil+Red Chillies to the cooked dal.

This dish also goes to Jaya's event "I cooked Gota Sheddho in my Indian pressure cooker and it did not blow up in my face".

26 comments:

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Hey,Just had gota sheddho for lunch and chuckled when I opened your page.We are 'bangaals' living in a north cal neighbourhood and every year, thoughtful 'ghoti' neighbours send us the 'gota'. when I was young, I hated it. Maa had to literally force down a spoonful down my throat.Over time, I have realised that the health benefits are too many over the small compromise of lack of taste. Also, as you grow older, somehow rituals and traditions start to appeal more. Hope your daughters realise the wholesome goodness and sheer maternal love and concern that this dish stands for :)

Like yours, my mom never made gota sheddo and only gota sheddo I had was courtsey of my neighbours. Last night after I finished posting my gota sheddo recipe, http://pocketfullofspices.blogspot.com/2013/02/gota-sheddo.html, I saw you had posted it few minutes before. Yours was a wonderful read. I skipped ginger since I heard that no spice is added to it. Nonetheless, wonderful dish and wonderful story too.

Loves to read this post Sandeepa. This dish looks so nutritious. I would love to give it a try.Btw..I visited a Bengali restaurant this time in Bangalore. I remembered you when we were there. All of my knowledge of Bengali food is from this blog.

Which restaurant was this ? When we lived in B'lore there were no Bengali restaurants but in the last few years some Bengali restaurants have become famous both in Calcutta and outside. Also what are the things you ate ? Would love to know :)

Sheem is Hyacinth Beans. Wait, I should update in the post.If you don't have sheem, use any other beans.

Let me tell you though this recipe is very simple and basic. I still do not understand why people went ga ga over it. As someone said in the comments, the black urad and the veggies were seen as a prevention against small pox so the "health" thing might be it.

Also my Ma just called and said, that her sister also adds a little fennel ground with the ginger which adds to the flavor. You improvise on this. I will now make this often but I am thinking while serving I might top it with fresh dhania patta, cut tomatoes etc.

Has Gota-Shedhho ever made anyone's mouth water? It just did mine. Eta banate hobe - how strange that I've never had it before. I do remember the sheel-nora's day off though :)I also made your Thai fish in banana leaves the other day - and it was A-MA-ZING! I used Basa, my fish of the moment.

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Predominantly a Bong, who loves being a Mom and loves to cook among other things for the li'l one and the big ones.She loves to write too and you will find her food spiced up with stories. Mainly a collection of Bengali Recipes with other kinds thrown in, in good measure. A Snapshot of Bengali Cuisine